Crowdfunding Prizes for Public Goods with viaPrize.org

viaPrize.org is the only platform in the world that allows anyone to create a crowdfunded prize (AKA "bounty") to incentivize the creation of public goods. This innovative solution overcomes the tragedy of the commons through peer-to-peer collaboration rather than bureaucracy.

The Tragedy of the Commons

If a village wants a public good such as a road, they encounter the tragedy of the commons. This public good would benefit everyone, but no single person wants to take on the expense of making it happen. In today's world, the solution is to have a government tax the populace then offer a contract to build the road. In this way, everyone pays (or at least taxpayers do) and everyone benefits. However, this approach has downsides including slow-moving governments, limited knowledge of which projects will do the most good, and inefficient crowdsourcing of ideas.

Crowdfunded Prizes as a Solution

With crowdfunded prizes, anyone in a community can propose a variety of projects, anyone can add funds to the reward for completing a project, and anyone can complete the project and win the reward. This creates a mechanism wherein ideas recognized as valuable may gather momentum. This is beneficial for prize proposers, funders, and winners, as they can easily outsource great ideas, donate to projects they like in a de-risked way, and earn reward...